[Look] Here's How It Got Interesting When the Sixers Got the No. 1 Pick in the NBA Draft Lottery

[Look] Here's How It Got Interesting When the Sixers Got the No. 1 Pick in the NBA Draft Lottery

And the best reactions to Dikembe Mutombo's ill-timed tweet about Philly's top selection.

Published May 18th

After an abysmal 10-72 season, the PhiladelphiaSixers finally have a reason to rejoice: the struggling squad just nabbed the first pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

And somehow Dikembe Mutombo knew all about it.

The Hall of Famer and former Sixer tweeted his congratulations to the team... before they actual won the draft lottery.

"Congrats to @Sixers on grabbing the #1 spot in the #NBADraft. #PHILAfirst," Mutombo said Tuesday in a since-deleted tweet.

Hmm...

Later in the day, he tried to explain the premature tweet to the Associated Press, assuring everyone the draft lottery wasn't rigged. No, no, no!

"I want to let people know there was no conspiracy," Mutombo said, explaining that the Sixers asked him to send a congratulatory tweet if they got the No. 1 pick and he simply pulled the trigger too soon.

“It was like maybe 30 seconds, then I realized, ‘Whoa! What did I do here?'” he added. “But it was too late. It was out in the air.”

Needless to say, social media and conspiracy theorists alike had a field day at his expense.

Good lawd... Mutombo walked into all of this. If there was ever the case of having Twitter fingers, this is it.

The 76ers had a 26.9 percent chance of winning the draft lottery. The organization hadn’t picked first in the draft since 1996, when they welcomed Allen Iverson to the squad. The Los Angeles Lakers placed second in the lottery, followed by the Boston Celtics. The remaining picks are as follows, per SB Nation:

Now the 76ers need to decide who to draft. The smart money says the franchise's front office will choose between two freshman forwards: Ben Simmons from LSU or Brandon Ingram from Duke. Head coach Brett Brown told ESPN that the team has not yet decided who they will go after first in the June 23 draft.

Perhaps, Mutombo will reveal that prematurely, too.

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